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Best Practices for a Robust LinkedIn Company Page

Social media powerhouse LinkedIn recently celebrated its 15th anniversary as the world’s largest professional network. With over 546 million users globally, LinkedIn can be a powerful addition to any social media strategy.

Gone are the days when LinkedIn was used only by recruiters and job seekers. Now, businesses both big and small are using LinkedIn company pages to help attract potential clients and talented staff. The platform is rich with professional content and an audience eager to engage and connect.

Whether launching or maintaining a company LinkedIn page, here are some helpful tips for professional services firms to know:

Step 1: Establish Brand Consistency

LinkedIn provides a free marketing opportunity to increase brand awareness and educate potential clients on your services. The look and feel of a company page should demonstrate the firm’s mission and culture, beginning with the initial set up of the page.

Tailored Images: Further promote your brand by thinking of the profile picture and cover image as billboards. A good rule of thumb is to use the company logo as a profile picture and create a branded header to serve as the cover image. The header could feature key projects, highlight employee successes, or present a call to action.

Succinct Company Profile: The company profile should concisely define your expertise and industry focus to increase visibility. The incorporation of key words and industry phrases throughout a company profile makes the page reachable via LinkedIn’s search function. Paragraphs should be kept short for easy readability and the inclusion of bulleted lists can be used to showcase key differentiators. Another way to reach your target audience is to include all relevant services in the specialties field. LinkedIn allows a maximum of 20 selections, offering a valuable way to promote your company’s proficiencies.

Compelling Visuals: Images are powerful; adding a headshot to employee profiles can greatly improve discoverability, especially as people often forget names but do remember faces. Hosting a professional headshot photo shoot for employees is worth the investment: headshots can be used across all social media platforms, on the company website, and in marketing materials. A neutral background and professional yet simple attire will eliminate distractions and provide a consistent appearance to each of your employee profiles, which link to the LinkedIn company page.

Step 2: Widen Your Network

Effective content helps visitors find the information they need, engages their interest, and guides them toward your desired actions. Targeted content should define a company’s services and expertise without being self-promotional; rather, it should be designed to add value to your network of followers and help grow your network.

LinkedIn offers an excellent way to deliver original thought leadership directly to your target audience. In addition to posting articles on the LinkedIn company page, share case studies, project or event images, and video to further engage and educate. The goal is to keep content interesting and useful and link it to your website to drive traffic there.

A successful LinkedIn post employs a more visual approach with a limited text introduction and includes an appealing graphic or video to increase readership. In recent months, LinkedIn has introduced new video capabilities that allow video to be easily uploaded via both desktop and mobile devices. Videos tend to be longer on LinkedIn – the average being three to five minutes – so utilize this feature to illustrate your expertise with client testimonials, staff interviews, and project tours.

An active presence in LinkedIn groups maximizes a company’s networking reach and helps you get the most from the platform. Taking the time to actively participate in relevant groups establishes your company as a thought leader and drives LinkedIn users to your company page.

Step 3: Maintain Your Outreach

Once your company LinkedIn page is established, regularly share company news and content to drive engagement. As with your company description, optimize your content with keywords to improve the SEO of your company page. The inclusion of media coverage and video links supports credibility while keeping users engaged. Commentary should be encouraged to increase interactions with your audience and help reach users outside of your network.

As part of a company LinkedIn page, the Jobs page allows you to attract potential employees while further promoting your brand. You never know where you might find your next talented employee, so be sure to keep this section updated with any new job opportunities.

LinkedIn offers free analytics for company pages. Monitor the visitor and engagement metrics on a regular basis to see what content appealed most to your audience, then plan additional posts around similar content.

Step 4: Engage Your Staff

There is a tremendous opportunity to exponentially increase the reach of your posts by leveraging your firm’s greatest asset: its employees. To help content get disseminated as widely as possible across your target market, share suggested posts with your employees and encourage their participation by posting to their personal LinkedIn pages.

The time and effort of maintaining a LinkedIn company page is well worth it when engaging content effectively reaches your target audience. Make it a priority to share regular and useful content and watch your network of potential clients and employees grow.

Author

Susan Shelby, FSMPS, CPSM, is the president and CEO of Rhino Public Relations, a full-service PR and marketing agency focused on meeting the unique needs of professional services firms. Rhino PR offers customized services based on each individual client’s goals and budget. Susan received the 2016 SMPS Boston Marketing Professional of the Year Award, which honors marketing excellence in the A/E/C industry. Follow her @RhinoPRBoston or visit www.rhinopr.com for more information about how Rhino PR can help you take charge of your PR.

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